


If Walls Could Talk

by voltroff



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Cheating, Everyone is manipulative or manipulated, Keith is 17, Lance is 18, Light Smut, Love Triangle, M/M, Shiro is 33, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-31 01:28:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15108944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voltroff/pseuds/voltroff
Summary: When Keith Kogane discovered his liking for abs, muscular arms and sharp jaws, nothing was the same as it was before. But things got tough when he realized that he preferred them when they weren’t right for him, or more like totally out of reach. The moral of the story : It’s not easy to be a teenage boy with a heavy sense of challenge and overflowing hormones, and you shouldn’t touch what isn’t yours, except, of course, if you’re ready to face the consequences.





	1. Clairvoyant

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys, this is my first fic on ao3, so i hope it will go smoothly.  
> the title was inspired by halsey's "walls could talk" and 5 seconds of summer's "if walls could talk" (two bops tbh) and i thought it would give off quite the mood i want to set in this!  
> also, in this chapter, the first part is an explanation of keith's past and in the story, he starts his senior year in high school.  
> +++ i'm french and i feel like my english is getting worse with time so if you notice mistakes, please tell me in comments or on twitter (@tellmeimthesun), it will be very appreciated!

When Keith Kogane was still a kid, his biggest dream was to be an astronaut. Totally amazed by the stars, the constellations and all the mysteries that revolved around the universe and its infinity, he worked really hard at school, taking every opportunity he had to widen his knowledge. His liking- or his obsession- for space led him to get, of course, amazing grades in all the subjects that could be considered scientific in middle school, such as mathematics, physics and biology, because he took all his time studying these as a way to fulfill is constant curiosity. Though, almost two years after he discovered his passion, a major problem occurred. His fixation on astronomy also led to a total drop of all the other subjects he had that he considered useless and couldn’t find himself to be interested in. Thus, literature, history or English were totally left behind, and soon enough, there was a huge gap between Keith and his classmates, our sweet boy being way ahead in sciences just as much as he was also way behind in the others.

 

However, Krolia, his mother, didn’t think it was _okay_ for her son to fail in literary subjects, as she was herself a journalist and considered that any competence should be based on proper language and history knowledge. Even though she wasn’t truly supportive, she had never prevented him from going to exhibitions, conferences or whatever was held in the town or its surroundings and never really did anything to stop him from going to them. But when the headteacher of Keith’s school called her to meet her to talk about his “disastrous” grades, she kind of lost her cool. When she came back from the appointment, Keith was grounded. Krolia was furious, fussing all over the house and asking herself what she had done to deserve this, not even taking time to actually listen to her son. That was at this moment that he dropped his passion for astronomy, his love for the stars, his fascination for the universe, and all the things that he dreamt about day and night to keep his mom close to him.

 

Slowly, weeks after weeks, Keith reduced the gap he had in the subjects he was struggling with, and he managed to graduate, becoming a high-schooler. During the summer before the start of his freshman year, Krolia hired a part-time college student to make him work even harder during his holidays, tiring him out but, as always, Keith couldn’t say a word because he didn’t want the relationship he had with his mother to worsen. Indeed, the mere idea of living an evening similar to the one they lived previous months ago was enough to give him nightmares. So, the teenager toughened up and kept his mouth shut, but the tutoring didn’t stop when class began, and Keith had soon to work twice as hard to meet his mother’s expectations. However, all of this only lasted one year before Keith definitely exploded and ran out of the house one night to come back only two weeks later because _he didn’t have any money left_ , his hair dyed in a dark shade of red and a cute ring hanging from his septum. The kind of teenage rebellion he never really had the chance to do.

 

Of course, a lot of quarrels occurred after that, and, for the first time, they were coming from both of them. By the end of the summer before his sophomore year, Keith was almost back to normal, his hair black again and the only sign remaining of his piercing was the two little scars the needle left when it pierced. Then, his life started again, but, surprisingly, his mother was much less on his back, as she began to go out late at night with a friend, and, sometimes, she wouldn’t even come back home before work. Keith couldn’t find himself to blame her though, because it was only normal for a single woman way before her forties to see men after years and years of only taking care of her son and working hard. During two whole years, everything seemed to go just fine for the Kogane, and the boy developed interests in things you wouldn’t had expecting him to, such as sports, art _and boys_. If the first ones were innocent and Keith could practice and talk about them as much as he wanted, the discovery of the last one was kind of the biggest thing that ever happened to him. The whole mystery of why and how it was happening and what he was supposed to do with it was making him anxious, just as much as he was growing more and more conscious of the boys surrounding him, from his classmates to his teachers.

 

And then, TheBigMess™ happened, and everything was upside down all over again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Groaning at the ray of sunshine coming straight to his face, Keith rolled around and cussed against himself for having forgotten once again to close his shutters. His voice muffled by the thickness of his pillow and his back now facing the window, he closed his eyes again, hoping for at least 5 more minutes of sleep. But it was a lost cause, because now, all of the noises coming from the corridor, the streets and the rooms surrounding his own were emphasized, giving him just the necessary amount of annoyance to throw his blanket on the ground before whining at his huge and very obvious lack of sleep. Searching blindly for his phone around him, he finally found it on the ground between the wall and his bed-frame. He pushed the home button to light up the screen, and sighed when he saw the hour. 7:28.

 

“Fuck” he muttered before standing up on his feet, rubbing his eyes with one hand and ruffling his hair with the other.

 

He would have to hurry if he wanted to grab his caffeine dose at Allura’s coffee shop and still manage to be on time at his first lesson. Walking toward his desk, he rummaged through the pile of clothed resting on it, searching for one of his black hoodie and a pair of ripped skinny jeans to go with it. After he managed to put on his jeans- and after struggling for a good minute-, he took his hoodie, putting it on as he was making his way toward the bathroom to brush his teeth and clear his face a bit. The sight of his dark circles made him whine again, and sadly, the splash of cold water against his skin made nothing to reduce them. He grabbed his toothbrush, his hairbrush, and 4 minutes later, he was outside, in the fresh air of October. Walking down the corridors to the hall, he kept his head down, his earphones plugged deep and playing some loud mid-2000s songs.

 

When he arrived at Allura’s _Outer Space_ a few minutes later, the place was surprisingly empty for a Friday morning, and he hurried his way to the bar. He leveled his eyes a bit, meeting the owner’s amused eyes and warm smile.

 

“Good morning Keith! How are you?” the beautiful blue-eyed woman greeted him, putting down the glass she was drying with a tea towel, already grabbing a takeaway cup.

 

“Hey Allura… Quite late but it’s fine, and you?” he chuckled a bit out of breath and searching for his wallet in his pocket.

 

“Will you be able to make it on time? It’s calm here, quite relaxing actually… The usual?” she told him as she turned her back to him to face the coffee machine without waiting for his answer because, well, _it was the usual_.

 

“Yes, yes I’ll be okay…” he just said, eyes scanning the room with a small frown, thinking of what was gonna happen tonight, when he will be back home for the week-end.

 

His mother had called him the day before, asking him to come home Friday night instead of the usual Saturday morning. Keith had been curious, because why would she want him to come home this early ? To spend more time with him ? The only thought had made him snort bitterly, because it had been ages since he spend more than 2 hours with his mother without her being called to work or just finding an excuse to not stay near him. But then, _she told him why_. And now, in 12 hours, Keith was going to meet his step-father for the first time and hell no, he definitely didn’t want to.

 

When Allura faced him again with his tall Latte with caramel drizzle, he lightly shook his head to chase those bad thoughts and put on a smile, giving her a bill and grabbing his drink, already walking toward the exit.

 

“Thank you! Must be running now, have a good day!” he said to her with a grateful smile, pushing the glass door and starting his run to the school, making sure not to spill any of the coffee on his hands.

 

When he arrived at the school gate, a few students were still here, entering or smoking, making him let out a sigh of relief. He slowed down his pace, allowing himself a sip of his drink still hot enough for his liking before heading to the classroom.

 

Damn, this day was going to be the death of him, and not in a positive way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! new chapter!  
> there's still nothing much happening, just introducing some characters and setting the mood and the context.  
> next chapter will be more interesting...  
> xx

When class ended around 5p.m, Keith was willing to do anything that could delay the moment he was going to go to his room and pack the things he will be needing during his week-end. After the alarm indicating the end of the last lesson rang, all of the boys in the room collected their books and hurried toward the door, probably heading to the dorms, their home or the club they needed to attend to. Grabbing his things, Keith stood up, glancing behind his shoulder to see if any of them was staying behind, and let out a umpteenth sigh, falling heavily on his chair again. The classroom was empty, and he could allow himself to take a pause before the rough week-end ahead. So, he took out his phone from his pocket, unlocked it and checked the different notifications that popped up when he wasn’t on it. For 15 minutes, he liked, read and replied to different posts, before a message he received a little less than two hours ago caught his attention. It was from Matt, his judo team captain, the only club he joined in September.

  
from: Matt Holt

Hello, coach wants to see the whole team before the week-end. Meeting at 5p.m at the clubroom

  
Moving his eyes to the clock at the top of his screen, Keith cursed, jumping once again from his chair to his feet. He was late, and even if he had no doubt about to his place within the team, the second thing he knew for sure was that the coach didn’t like at all when people were late. The boy began his race through the corridors of the building, dodging the few persons still there and apologizing every time he’d bump into someone. 3 minutes later, he was in front of the door, panting and a hand on the wall propping him just the time for him to catch his breath.

  
When he knocked and opened the door, a few heads turned to the sound of him entering. Stepping in the room, he lifted a hand in his nape, smiling apologetically, mumbling a few words under the unpleased stare of the coach.

“Keith Kogane, thank you for being here” he said quite ironically, even though a frown was messing with his brows and his forehead.

“Sorry coach, I just read Matt’s text” the boy replied, lowering his head, cheeks in a deep shade of red from all the attention, making his way to the chairs disposed in a circle around a board, where the older man was standing.

“Anyways, as I already said,” the man expressed severely, glancing toward Keith, “By the end of November, and before the beginning of any of your exams, you’ll go to a national traineeship held in Washington, in order to strengthen your bonds as teammates and to make you compete against people you ignore the strong and weak points. There will be judo teams from Atlanta, San Diego, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and us, Chicago.”

While the quick explanation, a few murmurs ran through the students, excited by the idea of doing a school trip this far from home. Keith looked the expressions on his teammates faces, all pleased and most of them chatting with their neighbor except him, of course, and a boy in the front, face down on his phone.

“Lance McClain, do you perhaps have something more important to do right now?” called the coach just when Keith was wondering his name.

The tall boy slightly jumped, letting his phone down on his lap, shaking is head from left to right. Keith had never really payed attention to him or to any of the team members, so him not remembering the name of someone here- did he even know it once?- was not a surprise. However, as his stare was lingering on the nape of the boy where small curls were forming, he did not manage to advert his gaze when the said Lance looked behind his shoulder, locking their eyes for not more than three seconds. Trying not to think too much of the light blush already spread on the cheeks of the tanned boy, probably from the way he was just scolded, Keith frowned, sending what he wanted to be an interrogative look just before the coach spoke again, but the said Lance had already turned around.

“Just before we decide the pairs for the hotel-rooms, I’m gonna give your further explanations” he continued, looking a brief moment at the papers he was holding in his hands, “We’ll be leaving for 5 days, depart the Sunday afternoon, first night in the bus, arrival the Monday morning at Washington. We’ll go at the hotel, you’ll be able to rest if you want, and at the beginning of the afternoon, we’ll start the training with the other teams in a building not far from where we sleep. From there, until Thursday, you’ll be training all day long. Remember that it’s not holidays, you’ll be working hard in order to progress. Understood ?”

Now nodding, all of the boys in the room had this determination look on their faces, as if they were already prepared to defeat everybody who would cross their paths.

“Great, any questions ?” inquired the man a last time, eyes scanning the students in front of him before he turned to the board behind him and grabbed a felt-tip pen.

“Yes” a guy two places beside him said, quickly raising his hand, “Will we have any free time to visit the city?

The coach ran a hand through his short hair, not answering right away, and then shrugged slightly.

“Honestly, I don’t think so. You’d still be under the high school’s responsibility and under mine, and walking through the city with a bunch of teenager walking by pairs in order to not lose any of you might be a little tiring, counting your daily training. Plus, as I just said, it’s not holidays” the man explained, throwing the cap of his pen right in the forehead of the poor boy, earning chuckles from the others and a whine from him.

  
“Now, the hotel-rooms. There are only 2 persons bedrooms, with 2 single beds and a little bathroom. Nothing much. Choose your partner, fast. As everybody is here, you’re an even number, it will be easy. ”

“Sir… Can we…”

“And no, you can’t be 3.”

The teenagers began to ask around them, choosing their partner with ease while Keith was sitting awkwardly in the middle of them. How could one think it would be a good idea to put him in a hotel-room with a stranger and not expecting it to be weird and embarrassing ? He wasn’t that much of a problematic boy, he was just socially awkward with an annoying tendency to put himself in trouble, so being with a random guy for hours and even sleeping in the same room ? There would be so much opportunities for him to make a fool of himself… What if his somnambulistic ass decided to reemerge and thought it would be a good to make him strip and bang his head against the wall until he woke his partner up? What if…

“Hey, Keith” he suddenly heard a voice call him from behind, startling him and interrupting his anxious thoughts.

“Huh, yes?” the boy replied while turning around on his chair to see who he was now talking to. To his own surprise, it was Matt, an awkward smile laying on his lips.

“Do you want to, eh, share the hotel-room with me?” finally asked the brown-haired boy, with maybe a little hope sparkling in his eyes, as if Keith’s assent was truly important to him.

The least he could say was that we was surprised. Surprised that Matt actually talked to him in real life and not via texts, but on top of that surprised that he asked for them to form a pair. Like, didn’t he have friends or other guys on the team that he would like to be with more than Keith ? Don’t get him wrong, he was glad that the boy asked him, but he couldn’t help but to think it was weird. However, now was not the time to hesitate or he would be left alone again, so he let a smile form on his lips, before answering.

“Oh, uh, yes if you want, of course” he managed to answer, fighting his rambling because the last think he wanted was to seem weird or cringy.

He looked up again and tried to fight the blush on his cheek when Matt patted his shoulder like he was praising him, the scar on his cheek being lifted up as cute dimples were forming because of the smile spread even wider, now that Keith accepted his request.

“Thanks, you save me” articulated Holt before his attention was stolen from Keith by the coach, clapping in his hands, still in front of them.

“Does everybody have a partner ?” he inquired, and no "no" was heard, he opened his felt-tip pen, getting ready to write on the board, “Great, now tell me your duos, I’ll write them on this.”

A few names were shouted across the room, the man writing them on the board as said, and it was Matt that gave theirs to him, much to Keith’s relief. He didn’t really pay attention to any of the names written on the board but he found his eyes drawn to Lance’s, and, out of pure curiosity, he read who we was paired up with. Hunk. Didn’t ring a bell. Not a surprise, actually.

Emitting a small grunt, Keith rolled his eyes, and patiently waited for the little reunion to be finished, because as time passed, he was growing more and more aware of the fact that he was probably going to be late for dinner, that his mother and her boyfriend will have to wait for him, and who knows what she was going to say about him and to him when he will be there ?

When the coach said they could leave, Keith was the first to get up and rush out of the room, heading to his room in the dorms to pack his things before calling a taxi. When he arrived in front of his door, he searched for his key in his pocket and unlocked it once he found it. In a hurry, he took his bigger bag, taking tee-shirts, pants, another hoodie, underwear and whatever he will be needing for two days, before grabbing a few things in his bathroom.

  
It was 6p.m when Keith let himself fall on the backseat of the cab he managed to catch, relieving a sigh of relief as he told the driver his address. Rummaging through his belongings, he took his phone once again, this time to text his mom that he was on his way and will be arriving in at least 30 minutes.

The car ride went smoothly, and he was arriving just on time- and too soon for him- in his neighborhood, in his street and in front of his house. The lights were on in the living room and in the kitchen, indicating that they were home, and Keith’s eyes were attracted by the two cars parked in the front-yard, one he recognized to be his mother’s, and another one that he didn’t recognized and which he guess was the one of his step-father.

Keith paid the driver, thanked him, grabbed his bag and slowly made his way toward the front door. He then stopped a moment, and pricked up his ears to hear anything that was happening inside the house. He listened during a minute, breathing deeply to calm his nerves and the blood thumping loudly in his ears. A distant melody was playing, knowing his mom’s tastes in music, it was probably jazz and he could clearly hear the piano too. _Inhaling. Exhaling. Here you go_. A quiet chatting could be heard, too. Not laughs nor emotions stood out, just a conversation between adults. Well, he had now to gather up his courage, he was late enough.

The black haired boy raised his chin a little, took a step back and knocked twice, waiting for someone to open. After another minute and seeing that no one was coming, he grabbed the doorknob and pushed the heavy door, being welcomed by nothing more than the sweet scent of vanilla candles and the smell of onions frying in the kitchen.

**Author's Note:**

> leave comments & kudos! 


End file.
